YOUNG: For Oso, 'Big Three' add up to one giant payoff

AUSTIN - When the final joyous tears had been shed, the West Oso basketball team posed for a photo they've taken a thousand times in the past year.

All the players huddled together, struck their fiercest pose and threw up three fingers. It's the same salute they've done when goofing around taking pictures in the school hallways or stopping for a photo after a game during arguably the best high school hoops season in Corpus Christi's history.

There were a few big differences in this portrait, of course. There were the shiny gold medals conspicuously hanging around each of their necks, and the backdrop was the overwhelming Erwin Center in front of 10,688 fans — a pretty big leap from the playground at Westhaven Park, where this monster of a team was created.

With the tips of the thumb and the index finger touching to form an "O" and the other three fingers stuck up in the air, the hand sign does resemble a "WO," which is pretty convenient for a team with West Oso splashed across their jerseys.

But, this is all about the three. The Big Three, actually — Raymond Robinson, Willie Harper and Robert Watson.

Since they played together in junior high, there have been whispers around town that perhaps this trio would be the Chosen Ones — the ones to finally bring basketball glory back to Corpus Christi, which hadn't experienced a boys basketball state championship since Corpus Christi High brought one home in 1950.

On Saturday, the Big Three fulfilled a prophecy that had been preached to them every time they played together at the Westhaven playground.

"The Big Three, that's what we called ourselves since before this season even started," said Harper, who scored 17 points to go along with 8 rebounds and 5 steals. "Last year in the playoffs, I hit a three against Hondo and I threw up the three with my hands. It kind of caught on from there, and everybody started doing it."

Watson laughs when he thinks about the origins of the newest West side fad.

"We got into a little bit of trouble for that last year when Willie started throwing up 3s in the playoffs," said Watson, who had 8 points and 10 rebounds in the title game. "But, we kind of changed up the meaning for it to represent the Big Three."

One hundred seconds of basketball will define the Big Three forever. The Bears trailed 57-56 with 1:46 left in the game. If that final stretch goes a different way, this group of West Oso players would be thought of fondly, but in the end they would have gone down as just another Coastal Bend team that made it to state but returned home empty-handed.

Instead, Robinson came up with a huge three-point play — there's that number again — with 47 seconds remaining that gave the Bears the lead for good. After a defensive stop, Watson calmly knocked down a pair of free throws that sealed the win and ignited a celebration.

"We knew since the eighth grade that we could do this," Harper said. "Everybody said when we get to be seniors, we should win state, so that's been in the back of our heads ever since. We thought that we should win state. That's why we were so confident."

At least Harper was able to wait until he was at least a teenager to hear the talk of the Big Three's future glory.

"Really, we've been hearing since the third grade that we would be the team to finally win state," Robinson said. "We just all came together and worked hard. We went out and got beat up by some teams a few times, but we knew we could get this done."

But the trio didn't do it alone. They got a big hand from fellow senior Brandon Scott, who added 8 points and 13 rebounds. Junior LaDaniel Marshall also provided a steady hand as he cut down on his turnovers during the Bears' big second-half run. William Enriquez and Andrew Lopez also played quality minutes to give West Oso's stars a little bit of rest.But, when it came to crunch time, it was all about the Big Three, who scored West Oso's final 12 points of the game. Fittingly, that final stretch gave the Bears their first title after three trips to the championship game."They say the third time's a charm, right?," Harper said.